A skin rejuvenating marvel: RETINOL. How to use it wisely?

Are you already rejuvenated? 😀

Okay, let’s put all kidding aside because a serious rejuvenating substance is marching in.

Retinol – have you heard about it? Do you know it? Do you use it? Perhaps you are afraid of using it because you’ve heard about its adverse effects on skin? Well, well, well… Today I’m going to tell you why you shouldn’t be scared of applying retinol and how to do it to get the most of the treatment. Enjoy!

What is retinol?

This is nothing but vitamin A. Surprised? Retinol is used to rejuvenate skin, cure post-acne marks, reduce wrinkles and remove all kinds of skin discoloration including age spots and pigmentation. However, you must follow a few rules to use retinol effectively and safely.

Basically, I’m not surprised that vitamin A is often referred to as the vitamin of youth. It does ACTUALLY make skin age slower but, of course, this isn’t the only advantage of implementing retinol in skincare.

Retinol in beauty products. How does it work? The properties of retinol

Retinol reduces wrinkles

Just a few weeks of using beauty products containing retinol are enough to see how skin starts looking better and younger. At the beginning, the changes occur in the superficial layer of epidermis. It works this way because retinol has an exfoliating effect and balances sebum production. As a result, damaged and callous skin is removed. What is revealed is the youthful and firm skin.

Obviously, subsequent stages of retinol therapy improve other skin layers, located deeper. Consequently, the number of fibroblasts increases so does the number of collagen and elastin (both are proteins responsible for keeping skin young-looking). To cut a long story short, after a few months of exposing your skin to retinol, you won’t recognize your face – it will look so youthful, firm and the tone will be even. Additionally, you can expect the skin to become more supple and the wrinkles to reduce.

Retinol is perfect for oily skin

Retinol handles sebum and its hyper-production. This substance effectively unclogs and constricts skin pores. It also deals with comedones and acne. Not without reason skincare products containing retinol are used to take care of oily, combination and acne-prone skin. Scientific evidences prove that retinol is one of the most effective substances that fights back acne!

Retinol improves skin tone

Since – as I’ve already mentioned this – retinol encourages skin exfoliation, it also deals really well with discolorations that affect only the superficial skin layers. Moreover, retinol reduces the size of melanocytes which translates into reduced melanin levels in skin. To sum up, retinol treatment is the most effective one to erase discolorations and pigmentation.

Still, retinol doesn’t focus its action on eliminating discolorations only – it also improves skin tone. How is it possible? It turns out that retinol takes part in forming new blood vessels that are responsible for nourishing and supplying connective tissue with oxygen. As a result, skin becomes radiant and restores its shine. The effect of even skin tone is plain to see after a few sessions with retinol.

Retinol: Why should you be careful with it?

Well, retinol is pretty strong and slightly invasive – it interferes with epidermis. Therefore, you can notice reddens and skin dryness during the retinol treatment. Such effects are common especially at the beginning of the treatment. Moreover, since retinol reveals new skin, which isn’t strong enough to resist UV rays, it’s advised to apply sunscreens to face with high SPF (30 at least). While talking about the sun, I also have to add that retinol is a phototoxic substance, which means that when exposed to the sun, it often causes skin irritations, reddens and in extreme situations even discolorations. Therefore, it’s so important to apply creams with retinol at bedtime during the retinol treatment.

And now a piece of information for future or young mums: retinol shouldn’t be applied during pregnancy and breastfeeding period.

How to use retinol? Extra info

• Check the packaging for temperature which you should store the cream at.
• Keep the packaging away from the sources of light.
• Concentration of pure retinol has 0,25% or more.
• Use it only at bedtime because it may ‘play around’ when applied morning.
• Treat your face with a sunscreen (SPF 30 or more) before leaving home.
• Help your skin a little bit and introduce a light moisturizer into your daily skincare routine.

And you should be fine 🙂